


What About Pierre?

by lemonfizzies



Category: Orbiting Human Circus of the Air (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, I just love these two so much okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 07:23:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9809117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonfizzies/pseuds/lemonfizzies
Summary: Just who is this mysterious new stagehand? Is Leticia going mad or is he in two places at once?





	

Pierre, one half of a passing act on the Circus so many years ago? A ventriloquist, traveling Paris with a life-sized puppet known as Francois?  
Of course, Francois was not a real puppet (  
Or was he? That's still up to speculation, for no one's ever gotten a really good look at him while onstage. How could a wooden creature move with such fluidity? Stranger things had been known to be possible...)  
Francois was, for all intents and purposes, Pierre's cousin -- hidden behind a fringe of dyed hair and able to imitate Pierre's voice, mirror his actions perfectly. It was an amusing act, warranting polite applause and a smattering of laughter. Few remembered Francois. Nobody remembered Pierre.  
Except Leticia Saltier.  
One day without warning, without application or introduction, Pierre was helping Jacques hang the new curtains. Pierre was herding cats who juggled each other while batting at mice. Pierre was stagehanding.  
Of course, with the Janitor as precedent, she couldn't very well kick him out, and she figured Jacques could use the extra help.  
Only Jacques' name was displayed on the payroll. Only Pierre was supposed to stay out of sight.  
Until, much to Leticia's growing frustration, Pierre was no longer just Pierre.  
She could tell. Did they think she was an idiot? Pierre didn't always act like himself, especially not when he thought he was alone, and had the curious habit of trailing sawdust wherever he went.  
"I don't know," became the standard reply, "Must've been from one of them set pieces."  
Leticia knew it wasn't the sets. She knew it had to be him, that Francois guy, Pierre's doppelganger.  
She began to assign increasingly ludicrous stage directions, expecting Francois to eventually, silently, begin openly stagehanding if the need should arise.  
Jacques and Pierre always managed to do it alone. Or she thought alone. She had to look away sometimes, and it felt like an instantaneous swap took place so that the moment she tilted her head back again, it was someone else lifting the crates, though they look the same.  
She couldn't catch them in the act, the whole act running for MONTHS until finally, finally, Pierre arrived late, without so much as a phone call. Leticia seized her chance.  
"Pierre, what happened to calling in sick?"  
Francois nearly tripped over himself. Had Pierre called? He didn't remember Pierre calling. Pierre had crashed on the couch in their shared apartment within five minutes of arriving home and hadn't woken up since. Or so Francois had assumed. Pierre must've called while Francois was walking in to take over his shift for him. The gift of the magi, yes, that's it.  
"Well, I picked up some of that Cure-All from the drugstore! Right as rain, now."  
The look on Leticia's face was enough to send Francois reeling.  
"HA! I've got you, you..." And here she faltered, forgetting the name. "Oh, it doesn't matter! Get in the dressing room, NOW!"  
And she half-dragged Francois to John's room, which functioned as an office and ensured he had not even a moment of peace while on the premises.  
While she explained, furiously, why Francois (she remembered his name) should be evicted immediately, Host Cameron could only focus on the tag affixed to the man's chest, displaying Pierre's name.  
"Listen," he interrupted, raising a hand to silence his stage manager. "Francois, was it?"  
Francois nodded, looking like Death herself had come knocking.  
"Go home. Come back tomorrow. If she ever catches you two in the same room again, you're fired."  
Francois couldn't hold back the grin splitting his face, a rushed thank you tumbled past his lips and "Pierre" bolted out the door.  
Leticia turned on the exhausted host, fuming.  
"Johnathan! I HAD him"  
John sighed, he didn't get paid enough for this.  
"He's your Janitor, Tish. Get used to it."  
Leticia spluttered, trying to find some way around it, but it was a true statement.  
Pierre was allowed to stagehand permanently, his name added to the payroll. He still tracked sawdust from time to time.

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea and couldn't let it go and sorry for any typos i only typed this up in 20 min


End file.
